In-Box Review

Introduction

Rado Miniatures from Poland, owned by talented sculptor Radek Pituch, started to business with two static posed World War II German soldiers and both figures were previously reviewed here in Battlefront Normandy, 12. SS-Pz.Div. “HJ”, Summer 1944. Company lately released two new German figures but this time in dynamic poses.

RDM35006 - Under Fire, 5.SS-Pz.Div.Wiking, Poland 1944 includes two soldiers of Wiking Division with standard uniforms and gear, trying to fire a cover or moving to a new location under fire. Note that figures are also sold seperately.

As a brief note; this division was formed in December, 1940. Initially, it was called Germania but the title of the unit was changed to Wiking in January, 1941. It was recruited from foreign volunteers in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands and Belgium under the command of German officers. During World War II, the division served mainly on the Eastern Front and surrendered in May 1945 to the American forces in Austria.

Review

Kit comes in clear acetate box labeled with a color photo of the painted figures in front and a warning sticker on the back. Both figures are inserted into seperate zip-lock bags and small parts are double secured with smaller ones.

Figures are sculpted in 1/35 scale and cast very clean in medium gray resin with sharp details.. No mistakes, deformations or visible seamlines on the figures. No need for a cleanwork, just remove casting blocks, prime and paint. I liked the kit number is shown on all sprues.

FIGURE 1 - RDM35004

Sculpted on a moving forward pose; SS-Schütze comes in 7 parts;

Body with left arm; He wears standard Germany Army uniform of M36 Field tunic, M36 Field trousers, ankle high leather Boots and canvas Gaiters with leather straps. Over his tunic, he has a reversible SS Camo Smock painted in Plane Tree camouflage on the boxart. Besides nicely done wrinkles and cloth folds, all details of the uniform like collar of tunic with SS and rank collar tabs, elastic cuffs, foliage strips on upper sleeve and torso of smock, laces of the boots, side straps of gaiters are very well defined. His webbing and some parts of field gear are cast on the figure in crisp details. He carries a black leather Belt and leather Y-Straps. There
are Kar.98 Triple Ammo Pouchs on both sides, Model 24 Stick Grenade known as potato masher inserted under belt buckle and Breadbag on the right hip. Buttonholes and buckles of Y-strap, pouchs and breadbag are well defined. Two holes on the breadbag seem to make the assembly of Mess tin and field bottle easier and correct fit.

Head; Sculpted in nice facial features, he wears a M42 Steel Helmet with vent holes and flared out edges details. Chinstrap should be scratched from a metal foil.

FIGURE 2 - RDM35005

Posed as running Unterscharführer; figure comes in 9 parts;

Body; He also wears the standard uniform of tunic, gaiters and boots but trousers are painted as M44 Pea Dot Camo Trousers on the boxart. Details of the tunic like pockets, buttons, shoulder boards and collar tabs, belt with metal buckle and Y-straps are nicely sculpted. Canvas MP40 triple ammo pouch on both sides and breadbag on right hip are cast on the figure. Three pockets with fold over top flaps, leather straps- one untied, loops and studs are well defined.

Head; Faces of both figures show a Nordic look which fit well to Wiking Division soldiers. He has a helmet with camo cover - painted 2nd pattern Oakleaf Spring pattern on boxart. Panels and foliage straps are reprresented.

Left foot; hobnails on the sole are visible.

M31 Mess Tin

M31 Canteen

Right arm holds his helmet to prevent it from falling off the head.

Left arm with SS sleeve eagle is posed to carry his weapon.

Machine gun; He carries a MP40 submachine gun and left hand is cast on it. Details of the gun is quite well.

Folding stock; It’s my bad. I damaged this piece when taking photos. But I can say this piece is improved. It is not as tiny as the one in RDM001 kit.

conclusion

Rado Miniatures keeps his high level on this second multi figure kit. Poses are natural, uniforms and gear are adequate for the period. Sculpting is great in nice details, casting is flawless with no mistakes, parts fit is perfect. The poses of figures fit well to each other, so they can be displayed alone or together in many different scenes. They can be used as painted in different camo patterns for different periods of war.

SUMMARY

Highs: Nice poses suitable for multiuse, great sculpt and cast, perfect fit on parts. Camo uniforms can be painted in different patterns.Lows: No lows on this product.Verdict: Very nice action posed figures for World War II battle scenes.

Born in 1962,married and having 2 sons. I started modelling about 8 years old building USS Fletcher with mom. It was a model dad brought from USA., I think in those days only a few people in Turkey had info on scale model kits. Grown as an AF officer son , I built many aircraft models in years. Som...

Comments

Looks good, though I always thought that it was a bit odd that they'd specify a unit when virtually all Waffen-SS uniforms were produced to specified standards and issued that way. You'd think that these two could just as easily represent 17th WSS or 1st WSS just as easily, dfepending on time period.

Frank, I'm with you on that one. I've never understood why manufacturers do that. As you mentioned the uniform was the same whatever division they belonged to. I like the poses of both figures, particularly the one reloading on the move which is a very natural and interesting pose. Moulding the stripper clip to the rifle is probably the best way to do it as I would imagine it would be difficult to line them up if it was a seperate part. As David mentioned the details on the Kar 98 aren't great. Even the older DML ones look sharper than this one. It's a shame really as it lets the kits down as everything else about them looks good. I suppose with being a new manufacturer they're just finding their feet now.

NOV 30, 2017 - 12:11 AM

We broke our quick reply box. Working on it. Until fixed go to topic to reply.Thanks.